Pages

Thursday, 10 October 2013

St John Bread and Wine, Spitalfields

We're always on the lookout for a decent breakfast in London. It has to sit somewhere between a light bite and enough to keep us going until lunch, and needs to be something good enough to entice us on the tube by 9am.

Our usual haunt is Dishoom for one of their legendary bacon naan breads. I have recommended this to so many friends I have actually lost count! Whilst it's nice to have a change, it has to be something that won't leave me feeling disappointed.

Then I had the idea. My husband is obsessed with St John, and would happily go there every time we go to London! We've been to their Smithfield restaurant twice, and sampled their Chinatown venture before it sadly closed. Two birds, one stone... Masters of meat St John Bread and Wine, Spitalfields serve breakfast from 9am: perfect for greedy food tourists like us who have bellies to line before lunch. There is method in this 'pig of the week' style madness. If I have nothing for breakfast, I get overly hungry. This in turn leads to me not being able to face too much lunch. Disastrous. So off we trot.

The dining room is a scaled down version of their Smithfield restaurant, with the signature white pegged walls and school dining room style tables and chairs. One of their bread delivery chaps nipped through the shop wearing old fashioned brown overalls, and the chefs in the kitchen were merrily cooking as if it were for friends who had popped in.

Their breakfast menu is small, but perfectly formed with only five items in total. The choice ranges from the enticing Old Spot bacon sandwich, to simple toast with honey. We were only ever going to choose that bacon butty on white freshly baked toasted bloomer.

For a humble bacon butty it was sensational! Hot, fresh toast, charred on a griddle pan, with lots of butter, a generous amount of bacon and ketchup on the side. This is the perfect way to start your day. The trick is to have this early doors, then book yourself a lunch reservation mid afternoon. By the time we reached Berner's Tavern, I was hungry like the wolf!

St John Bread and Wine did not disappoint. They have stuck with their ethos of excellent ingredients, cooked well with apparent simplicity, but again managed to wow us.